Spoiler alert! If you haven’t seen the third episode of Game of Thrones season six, then look away now.

Equally, if you have seen episode three, but don’t want to read a fan theory that we’re pretty convinced is correct (and therefore also a big spoiler) then probably best that you leave too… We won’t take it personally.

Right. To quickly recap, Rickon Stark came back in the most recent episode of Game of Thrones. The youngest Stark (who we haven’t seen since The Rains of Castamere – incidentally the episode in which his mum, brother and sister-in-law were brutally murdered) was brought to Winterfell in chains.

For anyone still hoping for the renaissance of the Starks, this doesn’t bode well. Of the few still alive, Arya and Bran are kind of doing their own thing now, and Sansa is busy heading to Castle Black, hoping that her “half-brother” Jon will protect her. Jon (recently resurrected) just left Castle Black, so she’s going to be disappointed when she gets there…

That leaves Rickon, who, since he fled Winterfell, has been hiding with the Umbers – a Northern family that have always been particularly loyal to the Starks.

Or at least, so we thought.. In Oathbreaker, SmallJon Umber delivered Rickon and Osha to Ramsay Bolton (as a gift), seemingly betraying the kid that he had protected for over twoseasons.

Or, did he? One redditor has put forward a theory (with 23 pieces of evidence to support it) which suggests that “The Great Northern Conspiracy” is afoot, the Umbers remain loyal to the Starks, and Rickon and Osha are actually being used as bait, intendedto entice the psychopathic Ramsay into a trap..

If you think about it, the timing is suspicious.

“It seems overly convenient that as soon as the schemer in the family [Roose] dies, [SmallJon Umber] shows up with a proposal that would see Ramsay leave his defensive position and take the field as winter is about to fall, the exact thing Roose had warned him against doing only a few episodes prior [when Ramsay wanted to go fight Stannis’ troops]. Did SJU wait because he hated Roose? Or did he wait because he knew Roose would distrust a long-time Stark ally or see the proposition to march far into the North with winter coming as a fool’s errand?”

The theory goes that, with Roose dead, SmallJon Umber recognises this as the ideal time to stage a coup, and get rid of the much-hated Boltons.He’ll persuade Ramsay to leave Winterfell with his men – supposedly to fight Jon Snow’s wildling army – and then he’llpresumablykill him, leaving the path clear for Rickon Stark (or one of his siblings) to reclaim his childhood home.

To support this theory, there’s awhole slew of evidence, not least the fact that Osha is alive. If SmallJon hates the wildlings enough to join forces with an enemy to defeat them, then whyhasn’t he killed Osha (a wildling herself)?

The redditor has also highlighted a whole lot of foreshadowing, the most convincing of which is perhaps the moment when – just before Roose’s murder –Lord Karstark said, your hold on the North will never be secure as long as a Stark can walk through that door”. One episode later? A Stark walks through that door…

We have to admit, we’re convinced by this theory, and we’re pleased about it. The Starks need a win, andto see Rickon Stark and SmallJon Umber defeat Ramsay (maybe feed him to Shaggydog, who we’re refusing to believe is actually dead…), would be very satisfying.